A Year of Second Chances is a great weekend, beach, or holidy read! The friendship between Dawn, Suzie, and Charlie is complex and takes on new and different aspects over the course of the book. Although they are very different from one another you can see why they would be friends.

Dawn is the the connecting force that keeps the group together, but I loved that she wasn't perfect. Sometimes her mistakes were funny and sometimes they were more serious. Suzie's obsession with becoming a mother was exhausting, but I never felt it was over done or out of the realm of believability. Her problems with Rex during all of this felt grounded in reality as well. Charlie is the newcomer to the group, but once she allowed herself to be a part of Dawn and Suzie's lives she started to become more of the person I think she always wanted to be. I probably liked her story the most, but I found myself relating to each of them at different parts of the book.

The misunderstandings and complications between each of the women and the man in their life were the types that could have been solved had they been able to have open and honest conversations with one another (but that would have made for a very short book). While that aspect became frustrating over time, when I took a step back I remembered how difficult those types of conversations can be; no one wants to put themselves out there to be rejected or have their dreams trampled on. It's also so natural for us to put the worst possible spin on a situation, and at some point Dawn, Suzie, and Charlie each do just that.

I thought the story moved at a good pace and I never got bored with anyone's storylines. The ending was perfect and well earned for each of the characters.

This book was a light, easy 'beachy' read.
The characters were a sort of one dimensional and got rather annoying as the book went on. There just wasn't much development with them. And every character in the book was terrible at communicating with each other and in general.

To start with, I found this book a little slow and didn’t warm to the characters. However that soon changed and I was fully hooked. It was great to see how the lives of Dawn, Charlie and Suzie interlock and weave together. I didn’t expect the twists that came along and it helped make the characters make more sense. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

If you are looking for a light, easy read for a summer vacation this book will be just right for you.
There are 3 main characters who all connect via the gym, 2 are friends and one works in the cafe. But a driving obsession of Suzie, the beautiful, elegant, rich friend pulls all 3 together to form a fragile bond. Charlie is a single mum with money problems and a 17 year old with big dreams. She finds a solution to her money woes but struggles with the emotional responses it brings her and the domineering nature of Suzie leaves Charlie wondering what she has done and if she can go through with it. Then there's Dawn, hitting 50 and worrying she has let life pass her by. She tries to spice her life up with disasterous consequences,
The characters were a bit one dimensional and got rather irritating as the book went on. They had the same thoughts over and over and I wanted to rage at them to sort themselves out. More depth to their storylines may have helped me understand why they made the same mistakes and thought the same things constantly. And every character in the book was terrible at communicating. I appreciate that was needed for the storyline but I would have liked to see more skill from the author to weave in the plot line without having to resort to people who don't talk to each other. But, that's a small detail and this is a first novel and overall it doesn't spoil the read.
Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy. This is my honest review.

This book was amazing! It was a happy and lighthearted and I felt really connected to the characters. It was easy to read and I'll be looking out for more novels by this author in the future.